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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28713840">yuujou (tl note: yuujou means friendship)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/erythea/pseuds/erythea'>erythea</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fate/Grand Order</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Some Attempt at Humor, gratuitous amounts of otaku speak, yan qing/okki kind of but that's not the focus</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 10:21:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,692</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28713840</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/erythea/pseuds/erythea</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Osakabehime knew they had some time to kill, but did they have to do it here?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Fate Week 2021 Fic Collection</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>yuujou (tl note: yuujou means friendship)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For Fate Week 2021 Day 4 - "Home/Belonging".</p><p>I am legit embarrassed to post this, and there truly was no point to this when I started it months ago, but I've gotten this far so I thought, "Might as well give it a through line?" I don't want it on my hands anymore, so you're all just gonna have to deal with it.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Hey.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The word settled in the room like a stack of penciled drafts sharply dropped onto the desk of a manga artist on a deadline.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I get it.</span>
  </em>
  <span> I’ve long accepted the fact that I’ll never get any peace and quiet.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her stylus tapped the surface of her tablet like an impatient shoe. And then, she lost it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But don’t you Assassins have other things to do?!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Looking up from a manga about hidden villages and nine-tailed foxes, Fuuma Kotarou was the first to speak.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We apologize for the inconvenience, Osakabehime-dono. Our master has requested that we wait for them in this room until they are finished with their errands. And if you would pardon my saying so, you are an Assassin with nothing to do as well…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Huh? What are you talking about, Kotarou?” Yan Qing rolled in with a lazy drawl. Unlike Kotarou, who did his best to take up as little floor area as possible, the ruffian leisurely lay next to the kotatsu, head propped up on his hand as he turned another page of a xianxia novel. “I don’t remember ‘em telling </span>
  <em>
    <span>me </span>
  </em>
  <span>about waiting. I’m just killing time ‘til they get back. Wahahaha!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do that outside!” Osakabehime nearly shrieked, just barely holding back the urge to stab the ruffian with her stylus. If her setup wasn’t so expensive, she might have tossed her tablet and dual monitors along with it. Who did this man think he was, shirtlessly lying around and touching her danmei books like he owned the place!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As she tried to quell the anxiety telling her to bite her own nails, an authoritative voice spoke from the opposite end of the kotatsu.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Spare them your ill will, Osakabehime,” said Nitocris, who was not-so-secretly playing out the Battle of Kadesh with tiny plastic figurines of Ozymandias and Hatsune Miku. “Although I cannot speak for the Skillful Star, what Fuuma Kotarou says is true. Until my ally is finished with her lessons with Chiron and her meeting with the director, Kotarou and I are to wait here in your room until our next expedition, as they deemed it most helpful and convenient for a recluse like you. Be thankful!”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Annoying!</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Osakabehime’s concern for her image and reputation was the only thing that kept her from screaming to the high heavens, but that didn’t stop her from groaning as she crumbled over her tablet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"If those are Ma-chan’s orders, I can’t do anything about that…” Osakabehime pouted as she unenthusiastically colored in a shape on the screen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yep!” Yan Qing agreed as he sat himself up. “We should all be good servants like the Skillful Star and listen to our master.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who’s listening to your master, you muscle-brained yakuza?” Osakabehime snapped. “What’s a normie like you doing here, anyway? Don’t you have better things to do?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tsk, tsk, tsk, Okki. Don't you know gatekeeping is unsexy?” He gestured to the book in his hand. “Why can't you be more like Lan Wangji? Sure, Wei Wuxian’s a pain in the ass who won’t follow the Lan Sect rules, but as they fight side by side, she slowly learns how to open her heart… Ah, Lan Zhan. She's my angel.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lan Wangji is a man,” said Osakabehime.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yan Qing gave his novel a look.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then he went ten chapters back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aaaaanyway,” he said as he began to read about demonic cultivation from a new and exciting perspective. “Maybe I just really like spending time with my best girl Okki. Nothing wrong with that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Osakabehime narrowed her eyes at him as she pushed her bags of unopened consommé chips to one side.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Liar. You're just here for the food.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sure, Yan Qing had the voice of seemingly unhinged espers and blue exorcists, but that didn't mean he could say whatever he wanted and get away with it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If I may interject, Osakabehime-dono,” said Kotarou with the voice of a demon slayer. “Most Servants Ensei-dono's age are so enamored with our lord or other Servants that they refuse to acknowledge his existence altogether. If I were to put it in familiar terms… Even if he is the obvious choice recommended by the game due to his conventional attractiveness and romantic potential, everyone has already locked onto another route. By default, you are indeed ‘best girl’.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Upon hearing this, Osakabehime's mood improved. She snickered, “Heh! The sexy tattooed man (CV: Okamoto Nobuhiko) can't even get a single simp around here because of our master’s harem protag powers? Sasuga Ma-chan.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“See-vee who?” Yan Qing asked with a quirk of his brow. “I dunno what you guys are talking about, but you're all still calling me hot so I call that a win.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m afraid I can’t follow this conversation myself…” Nitocris admitted, her jackal ears drooping along with her frown. “Fuuma Kotarou and Lady Osakabehime say it like it’s a bad thing, whatever it is, but Yan Qing always seems to be in high spirits.“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yan Qing sat up and grinned. “That’s the secret to happiness, bunny girl! Stop thinkin’ and you ain’t gotta worry ‘bout a thing.” He pressed a finger to his temple. “No thoughts, head empty.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nitocris gritted her teeth. “Who’s a bunny girl?! I’m a jackal— I mean, the disrespect…!” But she knew better than to send a flood crashing down a room full of expensive machines and cord spaghetti, so all she did was huff. “Well, I’m not sure I’m capable of doing that. Besides, I can’t imagine being happy with an empty mind. That sounds dreadful.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wish I had an empty head,” said Osakabehime, now balancing her stylus on her lip. “Then I’d be useless, and I won’t have to go to singularities and fight!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You mean you still got something in there?” Yan Qing lightly rapped his knuckles against her forehead. Osakabehime, in a rare display of energy, began to wrestle with him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are they always like this, Fuuma Kotarou?” the pharaoh asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ensei-dono is always rowdy, yes.” Kotarou nodded as he closed his manga and watched on. “Osakabehime-dono, however, is not often so energetic. She isn’t even an Archer at the moment…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I-I see.” Nitocris creased her brows as she played with Miku’s plastic twintails. “I never knew they were close.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Normie! Realfill!” The youkai attacked Yan Qing with all the might she was willing to muster on a Saturday. “I’m never asking you to help me with petty crimes ever again!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hahahaha!” he let her push him down and blocked every attempt to pinch his nipples with stupid ease. “Don’t be mad, Okki. The next time you try and steal Goldie’s credit card, we can split forty-sixty. Thirty-seventy?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Look, you stupidly hot triad member. I understand that you’re trying to negotiate my tuition fees for your valuable lessons in the art of credit card fraud, but you also promised not to bring them up </span>
  <em>
    <span>when other people were here</span></em><span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Osakabehime gritted her teeth as she threw a sideways glance at Kotarou and Nitocris, and Yan Qing mentally slapped himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, fuck. My bad. Uh, we didn't steal anything!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kotarou raised his hands to pacify them. “Osakabehime-dono, Ensei-dono. There is no need to worry. I don't think anyone here would tell Goldie-dono— Um, King Gilgamesh about your transgressions.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I beg to differ, Fuuma Kotarou,” said Nitocris, disappointment clear on her face. “I can’t say that I condone this behavior. Theft is a form of disrespect. To surreptitiously use another’s credit card is an act of fraud </span>
  <em>
    <span>and</span>
  </em>
  <span> betrayal. Is my ally aware that you have been committing such heinous crimes? Are you aware of the shame and disappointment your actions would bring them? The more I think about it, the more it makes my blood boil. Did you truly think that I, Nitocris, God of the Sky and God of the Afterlife, would tolerate such misdemeanors being spoken of before me? This is inexcusable misconduct from the Servants tasked to save humanity!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She extended her hand across the kotatsu, palm upturned. “Where is the card? Give it to me. I shall send it to King Gilgamesh and inform him of your crimes at once!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Osakabehime sat up and fixed her hair and clothes, suddenly quiet and meek. “Um, while I’d love to turn myself in and wait until I’m turned into a mana prism, what makes you think Gilgilman won’t think you stole it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nitocris said nothing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then, she took her hand back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Perhaps we should keep the card a secret. King Gilgamesh has at least twenty. I don’t know what came over me. Giving back to a king with infinite wealth, hahaha, what a silly notion.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yan Qing grinned and slid closer to where Nitocris sat. “I like you, Pharaoh! Royalty ain’t my thing, but I guess I could make an exception for a gal like you. Assassins should stick together, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was obvious Nitocris was inwardly collapsing from Yan Qing’s sheer recognition alone, but she tried to keep herself together. “Well! If you will address me by my proper title, then I ought to live up to it, shouldn’t I? But you really should give that card back soon.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, don’t worry about that! We couldn’t even touch his wallet — all his shit is there in his treasury or whatever.” Now that he was this close, Yan Qing’s smile began to take on a different color as he locked onto her amethyst gaze with half-lidded eyes. “But if there’s something you want me to steal, queenie, I’d be more than happy to—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t listen to him, Nito-chan!” said Osakabehime, who grabbed the ruffian by the face and shoved him aside. “We’re still innocent, but of course, we’d prefer if you kept quiet about everything, so play with Ozy-sama and Miku-chan all you like, okay? Ahaha.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, I see,” said Nitocris, amazed by Osakabehime and Yan Qing’s constant propensity to dunk on each other first, and mildly concerned by Yan Qing’s ability to breathe second. “I have some qualms about keeping unscrupulous deeds a secret, but divulging them sounds more trouble than it’s worth… Nito-chan?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nito-chan is dangerous but cute, so she’s Nito-chan.” Which didn't explain anything at all, but Osakabehime’s trying to commit to her cutesy shtick.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Osakabehime-dono, am I dangerous as well?” Kotarou asked, glimmering with all the hopes and expectations of a glazed cinnamon roll.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bwuh?! Ah, um… You're…  okay, I guess.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I see. I have to train harder…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noooo! She made the </span>
  <em>
    <span>mekakure </span>
  </em>
  <span>character sad!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She could have at least told him he was cute whenever he did his serious ninja thing! Or maybe she would have been offended at that, too? Feeling the weight of her heavy conscience, Osakabehime considered giving Kotarou compliments that suited him, but all she could think of were words he didn't have sufficient cultural knowledge to appreciate at all, like </span>
  <em>
    <span>gap moe</span>
  </em>
  <span> and </span>
  <em>
    <span>shota-adjacent</span></em><span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As Osakabehime fretted over a moment that had already passed, Nitocris gave it a different approach.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fuuma Kotarou, I have seen you fight. You are a skilled warrior, the likes of which I had never seen when I was alive. You work with efficiency and without complaint. It is most admirable!” She closed her eyes as she remembered her final moments. “Perhaps I could have used a man like you. If you had protected my brothers…” She shook her head. “No, there is no use fretting over the past. This pharaoh has recognized you! Therefore, you </span>
  <em>
    <span>must</span>
  </em>
  <span> be ‘cool’!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nitocris-dono…!” Kotarou began smiling and singing her praises. Figures. Osakabehime did better when she only had to pick one out of two or three set phrases in front of her and click a button, but this was real life, and real Osakabehime was a mess.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But then—</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think Okki’s cool.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Some people thought otherwise.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Yan Qing sat himself up. “This is a circlejerk session, right? Can’t I join in?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you really have to call it that?” asked Osakabehime, expression flat. “Also, you don’t have to lie…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not lying, though? Kotarou, remember when Okki won for our team at laser tag?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kotarou readily agreed, smiling from ear to ear as he recalled last summer. “Yes. She was most victorious in dispatching Bartholomew-dono when I was incapacitated.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And queenie, you remember that manga she drew with Shikibu, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I do.” Nitocris nodded, her jackal ears flopping along with the bob of her head. “</span><em><span>Demon of the Blooming Blossoms: The Bizarre Tales of the Shinsengumi!</span>
  </em><span> The title was redundant, but the romance between Hijikata Toshizou and Saitou Hajime was gripping. Scheherazade and I read it over and over!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You guys…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Osakabehime wanted to bury herself in her kotatsu. Being ignored was one thing, but being noticed was a different sort of hell. Now everyone had expectations. Now she had to </span>
  <em>
    <span>do things, </span>
  </em>
  <span>and she certainly wasn’t confident enough to do that much.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It didn’t make Osakabehime feel cool.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And Okki lets me stay here as long as I want!” Yan Qing laughed with his whole chest, happy and proud. “That means I'm kinda cool too, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Osakabehime narrowed her eyes at him. “No, that makes you the opposite of—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That makes her cool to me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yan Qing grinned at Osakabehime the way otome game love interests do, and she did the only thing she could do: hide her face behind a clear file of Siegfried and Kojirou locked in a tender embrace.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don't let you, stupid,” she grumbled halfheartedly. “You never listen to me when I tell you to go away.” She felt her ears heat up as her voice grew softer and softer. “And you fuss over me when you don't need to. And you…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before Osakabehime could finish her thought, the door slid open.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ensei-dono! Everyone!” The chipper Ushiwakamaru announced in high spirits, “The First Emperor is giving away red envelopes for the new year!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kotarou dropped his manga. Nitocris felt Hatsune Miku slip through her fingers. Even Yan Qing, so engrossed in imagining Lan Wangji’s strong, desperate embrace, stopped reading altogether upon hearing those two magic words.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Truly? I want one t— Um, I mean, I must witness this event! For reference, as a queen.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I would also like to fall in line for an envelope.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t just beat us to the punch, Kotarou. I want some, too!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Eh?” Osakabehime's head began to spin. Everything was happening too fast. Sure, she wanted free money to superchat her favorite VTuber with, but she wasn’t so sure about suffering through a crowd for it. “Weren’t you all supposed to be waiting for Ma-chan?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yan Qing jerked a thumb at Kotarou and Nitocris. “Not me, but with these two around, it’ll only take, what, two seconds? Medjed’s a fast runner, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nitocris beamed in agreement. “Yes! The almighty Medjed and I will make certain that all of us will get our envelopes in time. Not that I require an envelope, of course.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Would you like to join us, Osakabehime-dono?” asked Ushiwakamaru. “Benienma-dono will be providing snacks as well!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The youkai thought about the crowd gathering around the First Emperor and immediately felt nauseous. “Um, no thanks. I-I’ll stay here with my kotatsu...”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh well, guess that’s that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For a second, she thought Yan Qing would leave her alone, just as keikaku.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But then he gathered her in his arms like he was some knight in shining armor, and she didn’t really have a protocol for that. Before she could protest, they were already out the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’s no way we’re gonna let Best Girl Okki miss out on the fun!” said Yan Qing as he held Osakabehime close to his stupidly broad chest. “Right, Kotarou?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Forgive me, Ensei-dono,” said Kotarou as he Naruto-ran down the hall, “I thought she was only your best girl...”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“To end all arguments, I declare Osakabehime the best girl of Chaldea (until I am overruled)!” said Nitocris as a bevy of Medjeds carried her past the ninja and the ruffian. “Almighty Medjeds, please run faster!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And though Osakabehime screamed at the top of her lungs, part of her knew that she could never settle for less. She didn’t know anything about hard work and victory, but friendship? Chaldea taught her that.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Follow me on <a href="https://twitter.com/erythean">Twitter</a>!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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